No mercy
by Otsu
Summary: Have you ever wondered why Thade in Planet of The Apes despises humans in such a feral way?***two new chapters added, I hope you'll enjoy them (though the story isn't finished yet^___^)
1. Just a matter of fashion

Oh, this is what happens when you're such a big Tim Roth fan: you can even write a fiction about Thade of the not-so-brilliant Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. I hope my English doesn't suck so much...  
I don't think I have many prejudices for sex scenes, but an apeXhuman erotic situation would be too much even for me, so don't expect to find it here. ^_^  
  
  
CHAPTER 1: JUST A MATTER OF FASHION  
  
Limbo, the slave merchant, opens the cage, and he says:  
"I'm really sorry, General, but at the moment this is the only human I have who's able to play. Maybe next week I can find something more..."  
"I need one right now" Thade says, getting closer tho the chained human.  
She is a girl - the merchant tells him she must be about 15 or 16 - with long, black hair hiding her face, tanned skin and a thin but quite muscular body. Thade smells her.  
"It stinks."  
"She's human" Limbo says, shrugging his shoulders. Thade stares at the girl, who is unusually quiet. There is neither fear nor hate in her eyes - the only feelings that Thade has ever seen humans expressing towards him. But *this* human seems not impressed at all by his presence. Thade steps back and says:  
"I don't buy her without a test."  
"You're absolutely right" Limbo tells him, servily, and takes a flute out of his pocket. He gives hit to the human girl and tells her:  
"Play it."  
The girl starts playing a swee and melancholic melody. Thade sighs nervously. He hates humans more than anything else, but there is this fashion of having human music at parties, dinners and that kind of stuff. He is not the kind of person that cares about fashion, but it's a matter of diplomacy. Actually, he doesn't care much either of diplomacy, he's a soldier, not a politician, but the importance of his family doesn't allow him to ignore social conventions. He has to entertain his guests. He says:  
"Stop. I've heard enough. Take this human to my house."  
"do you want her to be washed?"  
"She would stink all the same. It's their skin, it's something that would never change."  
The merchant grabs the girl to take her to the cart he uses to carry humans, and as she turns Thade notices the seal on her shoulder.  
"The seal looks old. Has she already been used?"  
"Oh... Well, actually she was one of the humans that were used to build the new city hall, last year. That's why she's so well built" Limbo says, slapping the girl's hips.  
"You see" he goes on "this is definitely one of my best articles. Solid, good worker and she can play flute too."  
"Yeah, a phenomenon" Thade says, ironically, and he goes away. The girl arrives at his house in the evening, and an ape servant takes her in the basement. He gives her a flute.  
"Do some practice" he says "in four days you have to be perfect. Next Monday General Thade has some important guests. *Very* important guests, got the message? You should know he won't admit any mistake."  
Again, the girl seems not scared and just nods at the big black ape. 


	2. Like a bird in a cage

As the story goes on, I realise this is just an attempt to describe what in the movie was barely showed, such as apes' society, Thade's psychology (...) and so on. Enjoy!  
  
CHAPTER 2 : LIKE A BIRD IN A CAGE  
  
In four days, the girl hasn't met anyone but the servant, and she hasn't said a word but "thanks" when he brought her food - some kind of soup of vegtables and roots. Then, she has spent her time playing the flute, playing all the songs she knows and inventing some new ones. Four days alone with her music. But now the moment has arrived, and the servant leads her upstairs and puts her behind a grating facing the dining room. Through the panel, the girl sees Thade and other five apes. It looks like they are soldiers as well.  
"Play", the servant says.  
  
"Oh! Thade, finally you did it!" one of the guests says "You've taken a human to play one of their instruments. You have to admit that this music is not bad."  
Thade grunts. After all, it's like having a bird in a cage.  
"how is your musician? Male or female?"  
"It's a female."  
"Thade, talking about females, what about Ari? The whole city is waiting for you two to get married."  
"I *am* waiting, too" Thade grins.  
"Try to understand her" another officer says "she's still so young. We're all confused, when we are young."  
"Sure" the other says, laughing "but it's when they're young that they are attractive, right?"  
"right" Thade simply says, trying to cut down the conversation. His marriage with Ari had been planned since thay were children. He's perfectly conscious of what this would mean: the union of two of the most ancient and important families of the nation. No matter if Ari has always showed nothing more than loathing towards Thade. The general knows the importance of his marriage and he is determinate to be succesful. Then, Ari is definitely good-looking. So, family life could have even agreeable sides despite Ari's radical political ideas.  
The conversation turns back to music. Koh, the officer who has talked first, says:  
"Really, this musician has been a good business, Thade, trust me, I know what I am saying. Most of the humans trend to play always the same songs, while this music sounds quite new."  
"Oh, I'm glad to know it" Thade comments sarcastically "this doesn't change the fact that humans are the palgue of our society. After all, that's why the army exists."  
"Indeed" another one says "but I am optimistic. The missions in the forest are working well, and I foresee that we are going to work out the problem of humans in at most ten years."  
Thade grins.  
"So you are "optimistic"? If we'll ever work out the problem, can you tell me what the army will exist for?"  
"I... I don't know, it has been just an hypotesis, but... come on Thade, an army is necessary, we won't disappear. A society needs it to keep the order."  
"I tell you what will happen" Thade snarls "in ten years nothing will change a lot. Their filthy race reproduces itself in an uncontrollable way. Humans are the most lustful animals on earth. They spend most of their time breeding, so ours is still going to be a long war."  
Attar, who has been sitting all the time in complete silence, nods to underline his friend's words. The music goes on, turning into a soft, sensual melody.  
"Thade, please. Listen to this music, isn't it brilliant? It's a shame to leave that little human behind the grating, tell your servants to take her here."  
"If she plays behind the grating" Thade says, in a growl "it's because I'm annoyed just at the sight of humans, and since I am still eating, I don't want my digestion to be spoiled, Koh."  
Koh shakes his head.  
"Sorry, Thade, but please, there's no need to be so rude."  
"I am NOT rude."  
"Koh is right" another officer says, and in the end all the guests (but Attar) are asking Thade to show them his new human slave. They highly respect and fear the General, but now they are curious. Despite they are the ones repressing humans' developement, they consider a good human slave as an important status symbol.  
Thade grinds his teeth in anger and forces himself to call the servant and tell him to bring there the slave. When the apes see the girl, they comment on her:  
"She looks young."  
"She seems strong, considering she's human."  
"Come on, play again the one you did when we were talking about the army. You've heard us, haven't you?"  
"This one?" the girl asks, always quietly, perfectly at ease, at least apparently.  
It's obvious that the guests are enjoying her very much, so Thade keeps together what remains of his patience and doesn't speak. Later he says:  
"Now we'd better go upstairs to talk about more important things. You" he tells the girl "come back to your lair."  
Once again, the girl just nods and walks back to the basement. It's late in the night when a harsh voice tells her to wake up. 


	3. Philosophy

Oh oh oh! Two chapters uploaded together! But this one is quite brief...  
  
CHAPTER 4 : PHILOSOPHY  
  
It's dark in the room and she hardly sees the black outline of Thade, who is standing in front of the cage.  
"Listen to me" he says "don't think that you'll get a better treatment just because of what the others have said tonight. But some of them seem to be impressed by your... sounds. Be ready to come upstairs often."  
"Yes", the girl says, and Thade turns and goes away, but suddenly he turns back again and, as quick as lightning, he grabs the girl's neck.  
"It seems I don't scare you at all. Do I scare you, now?"  
The girl's breath gets a little faster, and Thade can feell her heartbeat through the veins of her throat. The girl whispers:  
"I don't like to be scared."  
There's only a pale blade of light coming through a small window near the ceiling. So the only thing they see of each other are their eyes, and Thade's ones look hard and cold as steel.  
"You'd better get more used to fear" he hisses "because it's the only thing that could ever save your filthy ass. Have I been clear?" and he releases her, but he stays in front of the cell. /Maybe he's expecting an answer/, the girl thinks, and she whispers again:  
"I didn't want to be disrespectful. I've just tried to answer your question."  
"Do you think 'I don't like to be scared' is actually an answer?" Thade says, and his words are full of distaste. This is just another confirmation of humans' stupidity.  
The girl tries to stay cool, and goes on:  
"I mean that most of the humans live their lives in fear, desperation and hate towards the apes. None of these feelings is pleasant or useful, so I try not to feel them."  
There is a long moment of silence, while Thade simply keeps staring at his slave. Her reasoning has some logic, after all.  
"Ah, I've spent even too much time here" Thade concludes, and this time he really goes away.  
  
********************  
Coming soon: Ari, the "ideal fiancée" (yeah, indeed...)! Stay tuned for more apes stories! ^_^ 


End file.
